Fig. 8: Effects of Gdf15 deficiency on gut autophagy signaling and mucin production.

a HCT8 cells transfected with control or shGdf15 vector were treated with vehicle or 10 μmol/L cisplatin (CP) for 48 h. Cellular lysates were subjected to western blot analysis. b HCT-8 cells transfected with control (the negative control shRNA) or shGdf15 plasmid were treated with vehicle or 10 μmol/L CP in the absence or presence of 20 μmol/L 3-methyladenine (3-MA) for 48 h, and mRNA levels of mucin 4 or mucin 2 were measured using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis. Data values are presented as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) and all datapoints (circles). Asterisks (∗) indicate significant differences from the CP-treated group (∗∗∗p < 0.001). Boxed blots indicate the efficient suppression of Gdf15 using shRNA. c Cluster evaluation of autophagy regulatory network (ARN; https://autophagyregulation.org) in response to Gdf15 levels in human cells. The border thickness indicates the levels of betweenness centrality of each node. d The HCT-8 cells transfected with control (the negative control shRNA) or shGdf15 plasmid were treated with vehicle or 20 μmol/L CP for 12 h, and mRNA levels were measured using RT-qPCR analysis. Data values are presented as the mean ± SD and all datapoints (circles). Different letters over bars represent significant differences between groups (p < 0.05). Gdf15, growth differentiation factor 15.